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Results tagged ‘ Alex Cora ’

As the Baltimore Orioles and the rest of the league await news about the beginning/resumption of the 2020 season, MLB came down with their discipline of the Boston Red Sox for their cheating in 2018. And unless you’re a Boston fan, I think you’ll be sorely disappointed:

T.J. Watkins, formerly the BoSox’s video replay system technician operator, is suspended for the entirety of the 2020 regular season and postseason. The league found that he at times utilized game feeds to steal signs.

Boston forfeits their second round pick in the 2020 first year player draft

Now former manager Alex Cora is suspended for the entirety of the 2020 season. Cora of course has already been deposed of his duties, so all this means is that he couldn’t sign with another team or play a role in this season – whatever this season ends up being. (For the record, this discipline is the result of his actions with the 2017 Houston Astros, and not the 2018 Boston Red Sox.)

The Boston Red Sox issued a statement in response:

As an organization, we strive for 100% compliance with the rules. MLB’s investigation concluded that in isolated instances during the 2018 regular season, sign sequences were decoded through the use of live game video rather than through permissible means.

MLB acknowledged the front office’s extensive efforts to communicate and enforce the rules and concluded that Alex Cora, the coaching staff, and most of the players did not engage in, nor were they aware of, any violations. Regardless, these rule violations are unacceptable. We apologize to our fans and Major League Baseball, and accept the Commissioner’s ruling

-MLB

I’ll put it like this – these “penalties are flat out INSULTING to any non-Boston fan. I might accept that their level of cheating might not have been as hands-on as that of Houston in 2017. But this is seriously less than a slap-on-the-wrist. Again, in my view it’s flat out insulting.

And I’ll be honest; if there was something that could have made the Houston Astros look sympathetic, it was this. Because if I’m Houston I’m pretty ticked off at the penalty that my team got, compared with the Boston Red Sox. This utterly wreaks of the rich just get richer.

Losing a second round pick might be serious for a team, but again if I’m Houston I’m questioning how they only lost a second round pick and I list a first and a second in two different drafts. Nevertheless, this is what the league and commissioner Rob Manfred have decided. So the matter is now closed.

Like this:

The Baltimore Orioles open the home portion of their Florida Grapefruit League schedule on Sunday March 23, 2020 against the Boston Red Sox. It’s fairly safe to say that Brandon Hyde will be in the home dugout at Ed Smith Stadium that afternoon managing the O’s. But who’s going to be manning the third base side visitors’ dugout?

As of last night, Boston’s current manager, Alex Cora, and the BoSox “mutually agreed to part ways.” Basically, the writing was on the wall. Incidentally the league said that the investigation into the Red Sox is still ongoing, and Cora and the organization could still face penalties. If what happened to Houston is any blueprint, the Red Sox organization is about to be guillotined.

Because he figured so prominently in the Houston situation and then appeared to bring the same system to Boston, many people “in the know” are saying that discipline for Cora was going to be worse than what Hinch got in Houston. Are we talking perhaps a two-year suspension? That part’s unclear.

Many fans have openly wondered whether the tentacles of this thing could reach the Orioles given that Mike Elias and much of his staff came from Houston. Anything’s possible, folks. Let’s not kid ourselves into thinking that Houston and Boston were the only teams pulling stunts like this. That would be incredibly naive and foolish.

However I tend to believe that Elias would have been suspended on Monday with the rest of the Houston personnel had he been on the league’s radar. I also tend to believe that given the fact that his name didn’t appear in the official report, odds are he’s in the clear. But you know who’s not in the clear? The Boston Red Sox.

Like this:

The Baltimore Orioles and the rest of Major Leauge Baseball now have a deeper cheating scandal with which to deal. The Houston situation is one we already knew. But apparently now the Boston Red Sox are in the mix as well.

Allegedly, the BoSox would utilize the instant replay room to steal signs and have them relayed to their players. Every team has a replay person, and every clubhouse has a “replay room.” The team’s replay person analyzes close plays and relays to the manager whether or not he should challenge the call on the field.

Again, allegedly team personnel would also be in the BoSox’s replay room using the monitors to see which pitches were coming. This is against all MLB rules. Both written and unwritten.

Here’s an interesting correlation. Alex Cora was the bench coach in Houston the year they were accused of cheating. He’s now the manager of the Boston Red Sox. That could certainly be a coincidence. But it would be a heck of one to accept.

MLB has moved slower on this issue than I would have liked. It seemed that all the signs pointed to Houston having committed the acts of cheating. Yet no discipline. One has to hope that it’s coming, and that an investigation is done into the Boston situation also. Both of these franchises also won World Series’ doing this. That shouldn’t be lost on anyone.

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